Ordinary South Africans must reclaim their power and take charge of rebuilding the country’s democracy

South Africans continue to be plagued by the consequences of a lost decade, especially when many promises are being made less than 30 days before a general election.

A decade that trenchantly reminds South Africans about how much has been lost — so much so that the figures are near incalculable, the lives lost and destroyed are insurmountable — and yet we are asked to hold on to promise.

Hold on, we are urged, even as the rage and disgust build from the psychological bloodletting of the various commissions of inquiry into corruption and State Capture.

The 48 political parties, all making foolhardy promises and taking policy positions that are not costed, and furthermore positions that simply rely on an electorate that is willing to stomach the bile they sell on every public platform.

The intrusion by political parties does not simply take place on the public square, but rather in our homes, churches, synagogues, mosques, places of work and recreation as well as into the digital world.

There is no doubt that this political machinery meddles with and corrupts our social fabric, with the sole focus of securing enough votes to justify their existence and to trumpet their perceived mandate after 8 May. The meddling does not simply end at the conclusion of an election cycle, but rather it is an ongoing subversion of our democracy and the power that should reside with the people.

The toxic nature of party politics and its resultant effluent seeps into our social fabric and the compact that South Africa is trying to rediscover and to a large extent rebuild so that South Africans can hold on to a vision of the country they want to be part of.

The lack of policy direction (even in a suggestive format) from 48 political parties should concern all South Africans. The lack of depth, breadth and substance coming from the political machinery should alarm us all — especially as what South Africans, at this point, most require is a road map to recovery, renewal and rebuilding.

However, the morass of social ills and unravelling of our compact is not isolated from the intentional plan that has resulted in the deferment of people power (even though we will hear much of “Amandla!” and the chorus of “Awethu!” during this election cycle), which has been cemented and secured by the claw-back by the party-political system from the people.

South Africans have immense power, but after many election cycles have become disillusioned and disheartened by how the system responds, and which in most instances refuses to meet the needs of the people. This issue is complex but rooted in the manner by which the party-political machinery functions (which is often in the shadows), how money and power are meted out, and how we are able to exercise our right to vote (and choice in the ability to elect public representatives and parties).

The structure and form of our constitutional dispensation continue to be challenged and tested. The testing takes place both within the party-political structures and within society more broadly.

Questions remain about who we are, what the 1994 compromise was, who our heroes are, and critically what South Africa is, but also what it needs to be. These questions highlight the complexity and the intractable nature of our struggles, not just to confront our past and deal with our present, but also to articulate meaningfully and with great belief in the vision of a South Africa that we want to live in.

Sadly, the fault does not only reside at the door of the political machinery, and in particular the governing party of the past 25 years, but rather at the doorsteps and in the homes of South Africa’s citizenry.

We have failed to take hold of our democracy.

We have failed to answer the question of why xenophobia has been allowed to take root. We continue to be willing to accept a schooling system that continues to fail millions of South Africans and continues to hobble our country’s potential. All of this cannot simply be reduced to politics or the nature of our society. This is a symptom of being unable to articulate a real vision for South Africa.

A social compact must be made real — and it must be exercised and executed through a meaningful participatory democracy that is driven by its citizens.

In all of the noise of the past 25 years, we have somehow allowed the fallacy to take hold that citizens don’t have a real voice. We have discounted the immense power that inherently sits with the citizenry. We only need to look at the power demonstrated to confront the last days of the Zuma presidency, which was enabled through structures outside the governing party (or from ancillary structures to that movement).

We saw the immense power of movements around shutdown, identity and the articulation by young people through movements such as #RhodesMustFall.

South Africans truly have no need to place all their hopes in the 48 political parties.

Real power does sit outside political parties and their membership structures, and it will be our collective responsibility to ensure that the next 25 years are articulated with a substantive return to people power.

We can no longer allow the effluent from the party-political machinery to cloud our judgement, we cannot continue to buy into the notion of a post-truth reality where fear and deceit are used to garner our attention and support.

This responsibility is entrusted to each of us now, leading up to 8 May, but importantly it is a responsibility that we must actively participate in if we are ever going to really rebuild South Africa. DM